Flash Guard
Appearance: Cyborg wearing green metal chest armor and Cylon-style helmet. Health: 250 Primary Weapon: E.M.F. Cannon (8.3% damage) Special Ability: Time Slow (superspeed) DESCRIPTION: Flash Guards are the first Quantum Guards you'll encounter in the game. They possess the same Time Slow ability you do, allowing them to move at incredible superhuman speeds (roughly 5 times faster than a normal human). A Flash Guard can cross several dozen feet in less than a second, making them almost impossible to track or fight without using your own Timeshifting powers to keep up. Flash Guards are equipped with E.M.F. Cannons, and are slightly more durable than standard Krone Guards. Overall, however, they're not much more durable than normal, and can be killed with a reasonable amount of gunfire. They are, however, tough enough to survive a close-range Shattergun blast or a direct Karbine grenade hit. Flash Guards are stored inside coffin-like metal crates stacked around enemy bases, and will burst out and attack you when you get close enough to their crates. Flash Guards are relatively uncommon; they are encountered in only four separate occasions throughout the game, and you'll fight a total of 29 of them. They are also usually encountered seperate from other enemy types, so you won't have to worry about them supporting standard Krone infantry soldiers. They are first encountered on Level 11: Liberation, where 4 of them will attack you in a cavern area. You'll fight 18 Flash Guards in a large battle on the factory floor where they are being mass produced and stored in Level 15: Factory Recall. 3 Flash Guards will attack you at the beginning of Level 18: Exeunt. Finally, 4 Flash Guards can be found in the opening shootout of Level 20: Gate Crashers, and will fight you alongside the Krone Guards and Storm Guards on the level. BEHAVIOR: Flash Guards run around at blur speed while raining down energy blasts at you with their E.M.F. rifles. Their speed is ridiculously high, much faster than any other FPS enemy out there. On the plus side, at long range Flash Guards occasionally stop running back and forth to take cover behind an object and fire at you. When standing still, Flash Guards are no longer moving at super speeds, allowing you to hit them. Once shot, however, they'll usually go back into super speed mode to run to another piece of cover. KILL STRATEGY: To deal with Flash Guards' superhuman speeds, you'll need to use either your Time Slow or Time Stop power. Time Slow allows you to move at the same speed they do, but they're still somewhat fast since they'll still be running around at "normal" speeds. Time Stop freezes them in their tracks, but costs lots of suit energy and only lasts for a total of 5 seconds. The fastest way to kill them is to tag them with a ThunderBolt crossbow bolt while they're slowed or stopped. Like all Quantum Guards, Flash Guards are vulnerable to headshots, as their robotic helmets don't seem to provide anything in the way of ballistic protection. A single headshot from any weapon will instantly drop a Flash Guard, so one good strategy is to use Time Stop to freeze them, then shoot them in the head with a KM 2103 Karbine, Shattergun, or Hell-Fire submachine gun. Finally, Flash Guards will occasionally take cover behind objects and fire at you from cover. While standing still, Flash Guards don't use their super-speed, and can be targeted and shot just like any other enemy. If you want, you can retreat and fight Flash Guards at long range, and snipe them with the ThunderBolt crossbow or Echo Rifle when they stop running around and take cover behind a wall or crate.